He Makes Up to $115,000 a Year Working Just 2 Hours a Month. His Story Shows That Passive Income Is the New Career Dream.

Greg Keogh turned a simple household annoyance — pet hair everywhere — into a six-figure business by selling an oversized lint roller online. His story captures how passive income has become the new career dream for many Americans. 

According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, Keogh started out like many burned-out workers. He was worn down by commuting; each workday left him drained of energy. He began looking for an alternative path that could give him more flexibility without immediately sacrificing his income. 

The turning point came when a dog owner told him about an oversized lint roller that made it easier to clean fur off furniture and carpets. With an engineering background, Keogh saw an opportunity. He designed a lint roller almost as wide as a paper towel roll, then launched it on Amazon, where it quickly found a niche among pet owners. 

Keogh’s product could have become the foundation for a bigger cleaning brand, but he deliberately chose to keep it lean rather than build a large operation. Seven years after launch, he spends no more than two hours a month on the business, he recently told the Journal.

Despite that minimal time investment, the lint roller line generates between $50,000 and $115,000 a year, depending on performance, he disclosed. That means sales are enough to rival a steady paycheck. 

Keogh’s story is part of a broader culture shift in which many people now aspire to earn money in ways that don’t require trading every hour for a wage. Passive income is money earned with minimal ongoing effort. It refers to money that flows in without consistent day-to-day work, like rental properties, vending machines, online courses and e-books.

Changing the American Dream

For a growing share of Americans, a newer ideal is replacing the old American dream. Instead of working hard and climbing the ladder, Americans want to find ways to live by putting in little to no traditional work. 

The notion itself isn’t new, but has recently gained traction as workers feel that the standard employment bargain no longer works in their favor. Recent survey data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows worker satisfaction with both pay and promotion prospects fell to its lowest level since the survey introduced the questions in 2014. The results indicate that workers have become disillusioned with conventional careers. 

More than half of Americans, and about 60% of Gen Z adults, doubt that a standard 9-to-5 will ever get them to their financial goals, according to a recent survey commissioned by the investing platform Dub. That skepticism is fueling a turn toward alternative income streams, per the Journal. 

Side hustles have become a common way to close the gap between traditional income streams and passive income. About one in four U.S. adults reported earning money from side gigs, based on a 2025 Bankrate survey that defines a side hustle as any extra income beyond a primary paycheck. 

Greg Keogh turned a simple household annoyance — pet hair everywhere — into a six-figure business by selling an oversized lint roller online. His story captures how passive income has become the new career dream for many Americans. 

According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, Keogh started out like many burned-out workers. He was worn down by commuting; each workday left him drained of energy. He began looking for an alternative path that could give him more flexibility without immediately sacrificing his income. 

The turning point came when a dog owner told him about an oversized lint roller that made it easier to clean fur off furniture and carpets. With an engineering background, Keogh saw an opportunity. He designed a lint roller almost as wide as a paper towel roll, then launched it on Amazon, where it quickly found a niche among pet owners.